Trade Eminger and Clymer for Luongo, I hear they are trying to dump him for what ever they can get. Heck sweeten the deal with Petty and it can't miss! Now that we have Lepisto up, the sky's the limit!

ive seen lipisto, i love the way he plays. A trade envolving eminger, petty, and clymer sounds goods...buts for luongo...i dont thinks that plausible. eminger doesnt like it in washington and clymer doesnt like the AHL(even though hell end up there even if we trade him), so i think thats a really good thought.

I'd say Emminger and Clymer for Trent Hunter. I know everyone is desperate to trade Petty, but personally i think that'd be jumping the gun the Pettinger we know and love could be back next season you never know. If the right deal comes along i would say trade him, but otherwise no need to pull the plug so quickly.

Lepisto--Rookie in North America but played a couple years in the Finnish pro league. Pretty quick skater, smart positioning, strong slap shot. More assists than goals, +/- is +25 or thereabouts. Kind of like Mike Green.

I thought when the Caps hit this part of the schedule, they would blow right through the SE Division teams. They certainly have better offensive talent. Heck, Ovechkin and a couple of pylons represent more talent.

Just isn't happening. Shakey defense, inexperience and maybe a tight collar or two.

Also, it doesn't help that everyone with the exception of Tampa has gotten better goaltending than we have. Last four games against SE have seen exceptional performances in goal by the opposition. Hope to heaven that Holmquist doesn't decide to stand on his head tomorrow.

Honeymoon period following the coaching change is over, and this part of the season is a real grind. If you're undermanned and inexperienced like the Capitals, you tend to melt under the pressure. Looks like that's what is happening.

Great to see other Caps players put up points. Great to see Flash light the lamp. Not great to see 4th straight loss in our division. Caps need to play like its the playoffs every night just to get in. They are not getting the job done right now. The bleeding needs to stop. We need at least a 4 to 5 game win streak right now. There is so much potential for this team to be successful. We also need to get healthy. Clark, Pothier, & Poti need to get back in the lineup. Here's to a win tomorrow night by one goal. LETS GO CAPS!!!

Probably doesn't matter all that much as there are still six weeks left. If they blow it, they blow it. The D and goaltending are too weak to get through any playoff series anyway. Unfortunately, the same problems will persist next year and the year after that and ..........

Injuries are hurting the Caps bad. They are seriously missing Pothier, Poti, and Clark. There is still a lot of hockey to play but the Caps need to turn it around and start playing better against our own division. The other teams seems to want to win more than the Caps. Caps also need to learn how to defend a lead in the third period.

Our fight is declining. we aren't playing with that reckless abandon that got us to the point we're at now. we are really starting to get hurt on a nightly basis by youth mistakes. these guys need a kick in the butt. we're flat-out better than every team in the southeast and yet we're blowing a chance to create separation. 4 losses in a row to the SE is completely inexcusable. A veteran team would have won this game 2-1 after Flash's goal. Also, I think we need to be a little more patient with the lines. There's a little too much juggling and guys are not in rhythm. I've also noticed Bruce isn't rolling out 4 lines quite as crisply as he was before the break.

Not really sure what to type here. The SE is killing us, just like they always have. We're back to playing well against all teams except those in our division.

I guess I just don't see the effort from select guys in these tough games. Green looked like trash in the third period. It wasn't a skill problem, just a discipline problem - he looked so lazy whenever he had the puck on his stick. On the up side (if you can call it that) we would get a discount on him were we to sign him soon given his shoddy play in the defensive end. He'll get better, but he's not there yet defensively.

Green is a darn good d-man for his age. He deffinately blew it last night but everybody has a bad night now and then. I think it's a little early to give up on him just yet.
I don't think the daads tagging along on this trip was such a good idea. Half of the team looks distracted and the other half is tired from covering for them.
Hopefully B.B. will light a fire under them and we get 2 points tonight without giving up that third one.

Yes, the ship is taking in water. Time to make adjustments besides making line changes. Yes, we have injuries to key guys but nobody is filling their skates.

We have plenty of 3 & 4 lines players (here and in Hershey) that are expendable. I hope GMGM is working the phones 24/7 to pull the trigger on someone that can score goals on a consistent basis. I would think someone could use someone like Gordon, Pettinger, Steckel, etc... We can't always depend on AO, Green, Backstrom, Kozlov and Semin to generate points.

Obviously, GMGM does not feel good about moving up any scorers up from Hershey or he would have done so already. Wonder what the reason was for not claiming Samsonov off waivers before Carolina? He's been a +6 in 16 games. Carolina made an adjustment in their lineup with Ottawa recently (2 teams that recently contending for the Stanley Cup).

Scoring 1 or 2 goals a night will not win many games from here on out!

Any possibility that scratching Brashear resulted in a little less piss & vinegar in the team, and a little less leadership?

Also, you're all going to laugh at this one, but I say bring up Clymer and put him on the 4th line as a forward to stir things up. He may have stunk last year fighting the injury, but he's got a real mean-streak--something this team's going to need more and more as the race heats up.

Majority of Loyal Caps fans think that this bump is due to our youth and the pressure they are feeling in this playoff atmosphere. That could'nt be more true. I don't expect a spot in the top 8 but a decent effort down the stretch would be all I need to preserve the positive vibes I am getting from this GREEN line up,
They will be a real nice team, just not right now, and if the other teams in the SE don't keep pace then we will be frequent contenders for a nice little while.
Changes need to be made and with a little tweaking and a big turn around in net the team is looking AO K
Additionally, there is no need to bash any player or the team as a whole they are just youngins who actually want to win despite what you might think, you gotta pat em on the back and then instruck them in the right direction.
I personally am extremely proud of the whole lot.
score

The losses may be partly due to inexperience and injury, but, I think it also has to do with something else. On a crucial road trip like this, three games against the SE, which are all must-wins -- why did they decide to make this a father-son outing? Are the guys trying too hard to impress their dads in the stands? Might they not be gripping the stick too hard? Could they be off a little bit because they're worried about making mistakes? Management couldn't have held this outing at a worse time. These guys need their mind on hockey, on attacking and destroying the opposite team, and building points to win the division. If they don't win the division, they miss the playoffs.

I agree and its not just this outing. maybe its because we are a team from the nations capital, but the guys are always out there doing their PR. it seems like before almost every important game the guys have some dinner or event to go to, sometimes even just hours before the game. we HAVE to make a move before the dealine if we want a legit shot at the playoffs. if you look at our team, we should not loose to ATL or FLA

Would you people stop whining. The difference b/w winning and losing is razor thin. If Johnson doesn't kick the rebound of a shot going wide to the middle of the net or the puck goes careening in a different direction on the third goal, this game is a win. I disagree that Johnson wasn't sharp. He made some nice saves and made some nice grabs on some crazy bounces. The Caps have to realize the other S.E. teams aren't going to back off and need to match and exceed intensity for the entire game. A couple of greasy goals by Laich /Gordon /Bradley /Laing /Pettinger would help. But please stop the whining it makes reading this blog almost unbearable.

I totally agree with all the inexperience posts. We are learning on the job what it's like to be in an NHL playoff hunt and it's tough. I also agree with someone's comment that if we can take 3 points out of this road trip it is not a complete disaster.

It's going to be a bumpy ride to the finish. Lets just hope we walk out of it on top. I want this team to make the playoffs so bad!!